


Sericis Cafe

by Daoquin



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Cafe AU, F/M, M/M, More tags to be added, With A Twist, first multichapter fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-04
Updated: 2020-02-16
Packaged: 2021-01-22 15:01:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21304001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daoquin/pseuds/Daoquin
Summary: João and Fatiha intend to open a cafe, and along the way they make new friends and form new relationshipsmainly Portugal centric, although sometimes there will be bits in Morocco's POV and others
Relationships: to be added
Kudos: 5





	1. And thus it begins

**Author's Note:**

> Fatiha is my Morocco OC

João stepped off the plane, people murmuring all around him. He noted that it was starting to get dark out. He followed the signs to customs, and groaned when he saw just how long it was. In front of him was a pair of Italians, one was rather chipper, speaking rapidly to the other Italian. This one had a look of mild agitation on his face as he nodded every once in a while, and it appeared to be more for the long line than his companion. Behind João was what appeared to be a Turk, fidgeting with a piece of string in his hand and tapping his foot.

Somewhere in the vast room a person was yelling, he couldn't make out any of the words, but he thought he could hear the name Peter. He glanced over his passport again, trying to block out the crowds of people around him.

"Hello!" The chipper Italian from earlier broke him out of his thoughts, "I'm Feliciano!".

"Oh, I'm João, how are you?" He replied, a little startled.

"I'm really good, although the plane was boring, I wish I was allowed to paint in there." From behind Feliciano, the other Italian was looking at him with an odd look on his face, João chose to ignore him for the time being.

"The planes are always boring," he agreed, "I'm from Portugal, where are you from?"

"Me and my brother are from Italy! We're moving here because we got a really good job offer for our art and our grandfather really wanted us to take it!"

"Oh, that's interesting, I'll make sure to keep an eye out for you guys. I'm here because I intend on opening a cafe of sorts with a friend of mine."

Feliciano looked as if he was about to say something, but before he could, a child, probably around ten, came sprinting between the. The boy nearly tripped on his own shoes, if it weren't for the probable Turk grabbing his arm at the last second.

"Watch where you're going!" The definitely a Turk snapped, "You could've gotten seriously hurt."

The boy looked at João, then to Feliciano, in whom were both looking at him, then his face turned beet red in embarrassment.

He opened his mouth as if to apologize to them, but before he could do so an irritated looking man ran up to them, doubling over in an attempt to catch his breath.

"Peter, don't you dare do that again!" He chastised the boy in between his gasps for air.

"He was running so fast he nearly tripped, but I caught him before that could happen." The Turk informed him.

"Thank you for that, I'm Arthur Kirkland, and you are?"

"Sadik Adnan." The Turk replied. Arthur nodded then looked at the rest of the group.

"I'm sorry for disturbing you all, I'll make sure my brother here doesn't cause you any more trouble."

"It's fine, I was like this too when I was his age." Feliciano replied. The line moved forward, and the other Italian went to get his Visa approved. Arthur apologized a second time, then left, keeping a firm grip on Peter's hand.

Soon enough João got approved, and he set forth to find something to eat, regardless of where it came from. After a few minutes of searching, he saw a pretzel stand and got into the relatively short line. Coincidentally enough, he was behind Sadik, in whom was fidgeting with his string again. Although looking closer, it appeared to be a piece of yarn.

Sadik glance behind him and smiled when he saw João, "Hey, it's you again!"

"Hello again!" He replied with just as much enthusiasm as Sadik.

"I saw that you were on the same flight as I was, it was rather boring, wasn't it?" The Turk asked. João nodded. The line moved and it was Sadiks turn to order his food, although he didn't notice.

"Er, Sadik, it's your turn to order." João informed him.

"Oh, is it?" He turned around and apologized to the cashier, then ordered his food. He waited for João to order his food. They walked to a table together to talk more.

"So I heard that you wanted to build a cafe here?" Sadik asked.

"Yeah, it's going to be a cafe I'm opening with a friend from Morocco." João replied.

"How is that going to work, are you guys going to put food from your countries on the menu?"

"Yeah, we're going to call it sericis cafe, it's kinda like a passion project for us."

"I'm interested in it, where are you going to open it?"

"In Sansevieria square across from the book shop that's there." João tore a bite off the pretzel and ate it, "Why are you here, Sadik?"

"I had nothing for me in back in Turkey, so I decided to take my chances here." He replied with a trace of sadness in his voice. João nodded.

"Do you have an idea as to what you want to do here?"

"Yeah, I've applied for a few jobs, and I think one of them might hire me, which is a big step up from before." 

"Where?"

"It's at a harbour, they wanted someone strong to operate some of the machines there, and I already have a bit of experience in handling those machines." The Turk said, rather proud of himself.

"That's good, what side of town is it on, we might be working fairly close to each other?" João asked, then said as an afterthought, "there are several docks here."

"The south side, so I do think we're pretty close to each other." He replied eagerly, "it'll be nice having a friend so close to where I work."

João nodded his reply and was about to say something, and for the second time that day his conversation was interrupted. Sadiks phone had gone off. He checked who it was before saying something about how it was important and went to take it.

João turned his attention to his pretzel and finished eating it while waiting for Sadik. He got up and threw away his trash; when he returned to the table, Sadik was waiting for him.

"So I got that job, but I also have to get going before it gets too late." Sadik eagerly informed him, then handed him a slip of paper "here's my number though, so please text me later."

João pocketed the paper, pleased that he had already made a new friend, "I'll make sure to text you!"

Sadik said his goodbye, and walked off into the lessening crowds. João yawned, realizing just how tired he was, now that he had no one to talk to.

He walked out of the airport, and very easily managed to flag a taxi and told him his address.

~~~~~

Before he knew it, he was at his new apartment, with his luggage in hand. He struggled up the stairs, and opened his door, pleased that it had a bit of furnishings in it already; he would make sure to leave a good review for the company making his life a bit easier. He shut the door after turning on the light and placed his things on the living room floor. He would deal with it later.

He looked around the apartment, taking mental notes of what he would like to move and to add, although over all, the furnishing company did a decent job.

He grabbed his luggage again, and walked between the kitchen and the living room to the hallway, and furthermore to his room. He placed his things down by the closet, and unpacked his blanket and pillow. He curled up on his bed and reflected on his day. 

Feliciano seemed nice, and João liked how enthusiastic he was, although he wasn't so sure how he felt about his brother.

Arthur was admittedly someone that he wanted to see again, even though they didn't really talk much. There was just something about him that interested João. Maybe it was those eyebrows…

He had made quick friends with Sadik, a fact that he was rather pleased with. He couldn't wait to talk to him again. Speaking of which, he had to send him a text before he forgot where he put that slip of paper.

It was a simple text, consisting of him saying hello and saying who he was. He placed his phone beside his bed on it's charger, then turned to face the wall.

He decided that he was rather pleased with the day, and started to think more about what he and Fatiha would do with the cafe, even though they've mostly got it all worked out. A yawn snapped him out of his thoughts, and he decided that he would think more of that the next day.


	2. to the store, thrice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rayem is Tunisia

João awoke to the noise of his phone alarm cutting shrilly through the previously calm and quiet room. He moved to go get it, but in doing so, fell off his bed. He sat up and grabbed his phone, shutting off his alarm. He checked his messages, and saw that he had missed a call from Fatiha (she had left a voicemail though), but no messages from Sadik. He listened to the voicemail from Fatiha, in which it was her reminding him that that her plane would be landing in the afternoon.

He decided that he would deal with that after he ate some breakfast. He walked into the kitchen and realized that he had absolutely no food, let alone anything that he could cook with. A trip to the was in need. He sighed and walked outside his apartment before realizing that he had absolutely no clue where the nearest store was. He pulled out his phone and got the address to the nearest store. Thankfully it was only a half mile walk from his home.

He set out and took note of the interesting shops along the way. There was a knife shop that he would make sure to visit, he did need a decent set of knives for the cafe. There was also butchers advertising that their meats were the freshest in town. And lastly there was a bakery that smelt absolutely amazing when he walked past it, that just so happened to be right by the store.

He walked in and took notice of the sign that said the produce was fresh from local farms. He glanced around the rest of the store, noticing that it was rather small. He grabbed a basket and looked to see what was in the produce section. Some apples, blackberries, various herbs, and bell peppers seemed to be what was the cheapest; so he grabbed a pack of blackberries, two apples and a small amount of basil.

Next he walked down the aisle with the refrigerated items. He grabbed a dozen eggs, butter, and a half gallon of milk. He browsed the rest of the store, resisting the urge to pick up some fancy spices that he knew he had somewhere in his luggage. He did put a chocolate bar in his basket before walking to the check out. The cashier was fast in checking out his items and soon enough he was walking out of the store and into the bakery.

He looked at the few types of bread that the bakery had. He decided on a normal loaf of bread meant for sandwiches. It was a cheap loaf so he also got a few croissants to have for a meal later.

He walked outside with now three bags of food and decided that he would walk home before he lost track of time to look at knives and the butchers meats. He started walking to his home and cast a few longing glances to the previously mentioned shops. He got halfway home before he realized that he had completely forgotten about purchasing cookware. He looked down at his bags and decided that it would be for the best that he waited until later to get them.

He finally got to his home and placed his bags down on the counter. He swiftly put away the groceries, but left out the apples He checked the time and sighed in relief when it was only noon and decided that he would make himself a small breakfast and do a bit of organizing before he went to the airport to pick up Fatiha.

He devoured one of the apples then went to his room to grab his spices, then put them into one of the smaller kitchen cabinets. He heard his phone go off, ad he checked it. One text from Sadik.

“Hey, would you like to go out for lunch sometime soon” the text read.

“Sure, I’ll be able to go in the next few days” João replied. He was excited to be able to see Sadik again, yet he had other responsibilities that he had to attend to, the cafe and Fatiha being the main ones. His phone dinged again, this time it was Fatiha

“Plane landed early, going through customs now” attached to the text was a picture of her in front of the plane, grinning, her headscarf billowing slightly from the breeze. He received another text from her, “There better be food in the pantry by the time I get to the apartment!” this text was sent with more of a playful undertone, although it did remind that he should probably buy some utensils and cookware before she gets to the apartment; and so for the second time that day he set forth from the apartment, but this time in the opposite direction for a bigger general store.

He walked for a mile to the general store and walked in. This store was much larger than the previous one, and João sighed a breath of relief, this one was bound to have all the cookware that he needed. He walked up to a worker and asked,

“Excuse me, do you know where the cookware is?”

“Yes, it’s in aisle 9 down that way.” the worker pointed to the left side of the store. João thanked him and walked off into the direction that the worker pointed in. He very quickly found what he was looking for beside the utensils, plates and bowls. He picked up a boxed set of pans and pots, then realized that there was no way he was walking home with it, for as heavy as it was. He put it back and instead grabbed the small packs of bowls and utensils. He walked to the self checkout aisle and paid for his items.

He sighed and began his trek home, then sped up when he realized that he wanted to get to there before Fatiha. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case. When he returned, he found the to be cracked open, and a few bags of stuff beside the door. He walked inside and placed his bad down on the counter again. He then went to grab the bags from the outside and placed them in the front room. He heard a door swing open and footsteps approach him. He turned around happily and embraced the person looking at him.

“And here I thought you were a thief here to steal my things from beneath my nose.” Fatiha joked and left their embrace.

“I feel as if a thief would be smarter than that.” João joked back.

“Yeah, yeah, c’mon and help me with the bags.” she replied and picked up half of the remaining bags, leaving the rest for João to pick up. He did so and followed her to her room, setting them down neatly beside her other bags.

“Alright, I can unpack later, but for now I think we should go check out our property. We shouldn’t waste any time on getting started and opened.” Fatiha suggested, and João nodded his agreement. They walked outside their apartment and flagged down a taxi. It took about ten minutes to get there.

They walked into their cafe, and was rather pleased to find that the previous owner had left their chairs and tables. They walked into the kitchen area and stared on checking the oven and stoves for any potential gas leakes, in which they found none. Next they ran an empty load on the dishwasher, after cleaning out it’s individual components and filling it with clean water. They had made a list of the things that they would need to buy to start operating.When they finished with all that, the pair sat down at one of the tables and began discussing.

“I like this place, it should be fairly easy to operate and maintain once we open.” Fatiha said simply.

“I agree, it’s also in a very popular and busy part of town, so we should be making decent money, we just gotta start hiring after we purchase the things we need.” João added. They discussed the various things they wanted to add to the cafe for a while before deciding that they should be going home, although a little trip to the store to get some more food for dinner was in need, berries and eggs weren’t going to cut it on their own.

They looked around the various stores for a few minutes, before deciding on one of the shops that seemed as if it would have the things that they were looking for. They walked in and walked straight to the deli aisle. He greeted them with a friendly smile.

“Hello, I’m Rayem, I’m the shop owner,” he greeted them, then looked at Fatiha, “We can always put in orders for specific dietary needs, I completely understand. Everything also comes fresh from the butchers, so no worries there”

“Thank you for clarifying that, it saves me the hassle of asking. Can we please get a ¼ pound of turkey.” Fatiha replied.

“Of course, I wouldn’t sell my products to people if I couldn't eat it myself.”

João told Fatiha that he was going to browse the store for the few other ingredients they needed for sandwiches. She nodded in agreement and he walked off to the produce section. He grabbed a tomato and a bag of lettuce, then he walked back to where Fatiha was. He stopped when he realized that she was having a full blown conservation with Rayem in their native language, so he walked off and browsed the various aisles. He saw a few things that he would like to come back and buy. He finally walked back to where Fatiha and Rayem were.

“Are we ready?” he asked when they turned to look at him after finishing their conversation. Fatiha nodded, he noticed that she looked rather happy, undoubtedly from whatever they were talking about.

“Here, i can ring the both of you up over here.” Rayem nodded to the till between the deli the start of the produce. Fatiha and João walked over to the till, where Rayem rung them up. He bid them farewell, and wished a good rest of their day. They left and flagged down a taxi. They give the driver their address.

Eventually they found themselves in their apartment, and set down their dinner beside the bowls.

“Did you get plates? Or do we need to go out again?” Fatiha asked. João groaned, and she laughed, “I was just joking, I swear.”

“Good, I’m not going to another store today.”

“We’re not, I swear.” she laughed and started getting the things they would need to make sandwiches.


	3. The Wives of Windsor

João awoke, this time not from his alarm, but by someone calling him. He groaned when he saw who was calling him, and so he decided to let him go to voicemail, he didn't need that stress.  
He got up and walked quietly to the kitchen, being careful as to not wake up Fatiha, she always slept in whenever possible, something they both had in common. He found a note on the counter from Fatiha: left to get cookware, will be back with breakfast, check your phone.  
João sighed and walked back to his room to grab his phone from the side of his bed.  
He checked his messages from Fatiha and saw that she was asking if he wanted anything specific for breakfast. He replied stating that he was good with whatever.

He went to check his other messages, but he found that he couldn't, thanks to the 20 missed calls and 5 voicemails from his brother, Antonio. He sighed and began listening to all of them. They were all questions asking about where things were, but one of them was wishing him good luck on the cafe and João smiled upon hearing it.

He was brought out of his thoughts when Fatiha sent him a message: getting some donuts, will be back in about an hour. João sighed and fell back on his bed, then started texting Antonio where everything was. He got a response almost immediately.

"I found them! But I'm at work now so it doesn't matter anymore."

"Oh, that's unfortunate." He replied back.

"Yeah, do you need me to ship anything to you?"

"Nope, unlike you, I actually remember to pack all my things."

":("

"It's the truth."

";("

"Why are you upset, I'm right."

João didn't get any response after that, so he assumed that Antonio had started working again. He checked the time and found that he had only managed to waste about 5 minutes of the time until Fatiha arrived. He decided to play the games that were on his phone until Fatiha arrived  
back home.

Eventually she arrived, carrying a small box of donuts and a large shopping bag, both in which she placed down on the counter.

“You’re lucky that there’s a store so close to your apartment,” She pushed the donut box to the center of the counter to where João could grab one, but he decided to wait until Fatiha finished her sentence. “So today we need to order supplies for the cafe, then tomorrow we'll post ads to hire people. But currently I need your help to eat these donuts." Fatiha said in a simple tone.

"Oh, ok, that sounds like a good plan." João replied and reached for a donut. It was one filled with chocolate buttercream and with a coating of powdered sugar on top, whereas Fatiha got one with a simple glaze on top. They ate in silence for a few minutes before João broke the silence,

“So did Mr. Beilschmidt get back to you on that apartment of yours?”

“Yes, he says I can move in monday next week, but why are you asking, do you not enjoy my company?”

João’s face turned red, “No, I’m just curious…” He said, noticing how Fatiha was staring at him. “Oh, you’re joking with me.”

“Of course I am, I swear sometimes you can be as dense as that brother of yours.” Fatiha chuckled.

“Not funny, he’s way more dense than me.”

“You sure about that?” Fatiha said. João scoffed in response, then they both continued eating their breakfast. They finished shortly after, and João went to throw the box away while Fatiha went to put the large bag away in her room.

“Do you want to go back to the shop with me to check for anything that we might’ve missed yesterday?” João asked when Fatiha came back from her room.

“Sure, that sounds like a good idea, let’s go.” She agreed.

They had finally arrived at the cafe, after running into a fair bit of traffic. João glanced at the interesting shop across the street from them. It appeared to be a cross between a punk shop and a bookshop, so he made a mental note to visit it later after they were done rechecking the cafe.

They began checking the stoves for any potential leakes and found none. Then they changed the dishwasher and ran an empty load.

“Oh, you know what we forgot to put on the shopping list?” João said.  
“What?’’

“Crates to put the dirty dishes on.”

“Oh, you’re right, I guess you’re not as dense and oblivious as your brother.”

“Of course not.”

They continued on double checking that everything worked before finally sitting down for a break.

“So I’m going back to the apartment to order things.” Fatiha stated.

“I think that I'm going to stay here and look at a few shops, get to know our neighbours and all.” João informed her, thinking about that shop from earlier. They left the cafe and Fatiha walked to where a taxi could pick her up. João on the other hand walked to the punk/book shop hybrid.

Walking in he noticed a few teenagers in the punk section. The next thing he noticed was the same boy from the airport, the one that had nearly tripped over his shoes. He was currently sitting behind a counter, but he immediately recognized João from the airport if the excited waving was anything to go off of. João smiled and waved back at him before deciding to look at some of the books.

He walked to the english classics sections and started looking at some of the books, specifically shakespearean plays.

“I would recommend this one.” a voice from beside João. he turned his head to see who it was and it was Arthur. He held a different play in his hand and João took it after putting the other one back in its proper spot.

“Right, what is it about?” he asked Arthur.

“It’s about a con artist trying to woo the wives of two merchants because he’s poor , but instead they decide to mess with him, it’s called The Merry Wives of Windsor.” the englishman informed, casting a coy look to the portuguese beside him.

“Huh, that does sound interesting, I think I’ll get it then.”

“Great, let's go over to the register and I’ll ring it up for you.” Arthur said and guided him over to the register. He rang up the play and handed it to João, his hand brushing against João’s, “That’ll be $3.”

“Three? It says five right here?”

“I’m going to give you a discount, considering that this is your first time shopping with us.”

“Oh, that’s so kind of you!” João smiled and handed him the money. Arthur took it and João bid him farewell as he left the shop, deciding that he would come back again.


End file.
